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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25038115">Strangers Like Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/stuckyspetertony/pseuds/stuckyspetertony'>stuckyspetertony</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Glee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>3k word one shot for what, Ballads, Ed Sheeren music, First Meet, Gen, Hunter might be a little OOC, Hunter thinks the Warblers are mean dickheads, M/M, Sebastian's a big softie, Sebastian's a little shit, Strangers to Friends, and i find that hilarious, and nice, baackground Nick/Jeff, background Kurt/Blaine - Freeform, background Wes/David, but i had fun with it, but it's friendship, confused Hunter, cuz i ship so hard, idk how to tag, if that's a thing, or sort of friends, pre slash if you wanna read it like that, the warblers are so Gay</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:13:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,106</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25038115</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/stuckyspetertony/pseuds/stuckyspetertony</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"You auditioning for 'The Warblers'?" the boy guessed, pointing to Hunter's sheet with Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud lyrics on them.</p><p>"No, I just like sitting here in front of the music room listening to a dumb ballad song on repeat." Hunter bit, glaring at the boy now.</p><p>The other uniform clad boy put his hands up in surrender. "Geesh, feisty. Just asking a question, dude, no need to get snippy. I think they disapprove of that in the Warblers." he winked.</p><p>Inhale. Exhale. Hunter softened a bit. "I'm sorry for snapping," he apologized. "This has just been stressful past couple of days for me."</p><p>"Care to explain to a total stranger?" the boy asked, sitting next to Hunter, respectfully a bit away.</p><p>"Want to fall into a deep depression?" he bit back, laughing dryly and when he looked at the boy, his eyebrows were raised as if to say 'try me'.</p><p>--</p><p>in which new kid, Hunter Clarington, is nervous about auditioning for 'The Warblers' and meets a nice brunette to talk to</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hunter Clarington &amp; Sebastian Smythe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Strangers Like Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"You look about ready to puke."</p><p>Hunter looked up from his lyric sheet to see another boy standing above him with a knowing look. He pauses his music so he can hear better.</p><p>"I'm just nervous." he responds, bouncing his leg to get the nerves out as if to prove a point. Why was this boy talking to him again?</p><p>"You auditioning for 'The Warblers'?" the boy guessed, pointing to Hunter's sheet with Ed Sheeran's <em>Thinking Out Loud </em>lyrics on them.</p><p>"No, I just like sitting here in front of the music room listening to a dumb ballad song on repeat." Hunter bit, glaring at the boy now.</p><p>The other uniform clad boy put his hands up in surrender. "Geesh, feisty. Just asking a question, dude, no need to get snippy. I think they disapprove of that in the Warblers." he winked.</p><p class="">Inhale. Exhale. Hunter softened a bit. "I'm sorry for snapping," he apologized. "This has just been stressful past couple of days for me."</p><p class="">"Care to explain to a total stranger?" the boy asked, sitting next to Hunter, respectfully a bit away.</p><p class="">"Want to fall into a deep depression?" he bit back, laughing dryly and when he looked at the boy, his eyebrows were raised as if to say <em>try me</em>.</p><p>Hunter licked his lips, eyes skimming his lyrics sheet as if trying to stall before talking.</p><p>"You know, I always hated singing." he finally said, quietly but it was there. "The idea, just made no sense to me. Who in their right mind would go on a stage, in front of <em>people</em>, and sing not knowing whether or not they would get booed or even sound remotely good? It terrified me."</p><p>"Then why do something your scared of?" the chestnut hair boy asked in the same manner. Soft and gentle, as if Hunter was glass. "Why put yourself through it?"</p><p>"My dad." Hunter replied, then chuckled humorlessly. "I know, rich boy had rules set by daddy. Most cliché thing in the book, but it was either this or get sent to yet another dreaded public school. And I hate the <em>look </em>of public schools." </p><p>"Funny, I hate the smell of them." was added absently.</p><p>A pause, then they met eyes for a second, a feeling of something, understanding was Hunters guess, came through them before he kept on with his story.</p><p>"According to my dad, I don't have a <em>terrible</em> voice, which with him, that's a huge compliment, so I guess I'm not worried about that. I'm just. . . worried about rejection, I guess. And the guys in there," he pointed to the double doors where the Warblers room was. "Are all probably posh <em>dickheads </em>who <em>live </em>on rejecting people like me. People who are scared."</p><p>A snort of amusement came out of the other boy and he quickly covered his mouth but his eyes were clear with mirth.</p><p>"Something funny to you?" Hunter asked, eyes narrowing and annoyance starting to build up. This is exactly why he didn't open up to people.</p><p>"Nothing. I'm so sorry, that was rude of me." he tells Hunter, removing his hand, face neutral and smoothed out his blazer. "It's just, from what I've heard about the Warblers, they're not that bad. They're even, dare I say it, <em>fun</em>."</p><p>"Please, anybody who makes a person audition with a boring song such as a <em>ballad</em> in front of the entire stupid club is very much far from <em>fun</em>."</p><p>"Point taken. When you audition, you should mention that to whoever's the lead."</p><p>"I might just do that."</p><p>Silence came between the two after that, a neutral kind, not <em>not </em>awkward but it didn't make Hunter want to bury himself in the ground either, so that was a plus.</p><p>It was the other boy that broke it.</p><p>"Listen," he started, facing the other brown haired boy fully, "You don't know me so you don't have to believe me, but I get what you're going through. The whole, '<em>dads making me do shit i don't want to do</em>' thing. It sucks and while my dad didn't make me do something I'm scared of, he criticized me. A lot. And it <em>hurt</em>."</p><p>"How'd you get through it?" the taller boy wondered, biting his lip.</p><p>"Well, after getting over the initial pity party and bitterness, I made friends. With some, <em>unconventional</em> people for someone like me and they helped me. Told me that you don't have to prove anything to anybody but yourself and don't give a damn what other people think; all that inspirational stuff, and it actually helped.</p><p>He pointed to the doors. "The people in there, it doesn't matter what they think about you. If it is in fact just, like you said, a "stupid club", then who gives a damn what they think? The point is that <em>you</em> went in there and did something you're scared of, albeit not willingly, but you're doing it aren't you?"</p><p>"I-i guess I am."</p><p>"So there! Half the battles already fought." be concluded, sitting back and crossing his arms.</p><p>Hunter blinked a couple of times, letting that all sink in and surprisingly feeling. . . better? Is that what this feeling in his stomach was? Whatever it was, it actually made him feel good about his audition in a few minutes.</p><p>"I- thank you." Hunter mumbled as a response. He didn't want to make eye contact, now feeling awkward and <em>vulnerable</em>, for some reason. Thankfully he didn't have to as the mystery boys phone dinged and he checked it.</p><p>"And that's my cue," he sighed, standing up and brushing off non-existent dirt off his shirt and pants before straightening out his blazer once again. He opened his mouth once or twice as he faced Hunter before leaving.</p><p>"Just. . . be yourself, okay? And give those <em>posh dickheads </em>in there a chance before you judge them, you may be surprised." he winked and waved, walking backwards down the corridor. "Good luck!"</p><p>"Uh, yeah, thanks!" he ended up calling back before the boy turned the corner, getting a peace sign as an acknowledgement, leaving a confused Hunter in the same spot.</p><p><em>What a weird kid</em>, Hunter thought, looking at the spot he was sitting then down the hall. Shaking off the feeling that he had that entire conversation with the boy in his head, he put his earbuds in before turning towards the lyrics and running it once again.</p><p>• • •</p><p>Okay so maybe Hunter judged a bit <em>too</em> hard.</p><p>And that's saying something considering he <em>hates </em>admitting that he was wrong.</p><p>The first thing he noticed after a dark skinned boy came to get him a few minutes after his conversation with "Mystery Blazer", was that the Warblers room was <em>humungous</em>.</p><p>It was easily the size of an Olympic sized swimming pool room, if not a little bigger, and the weirdest part of it all was that it looked <em>homey.</em></p><p>Inside the room, instead of lines and lines of desks and a chalkboard, like all the other classrooms at Dalton and what Hunter was expecting, the room was filled with couches and loveseats and random single chairs all over the room in an almost aesthetic way. Plus, of course tables here and there and <em>was that a mini kitchen back there</em>?</p><p><em>Right</em>,<em>back to focusing</em>, Hunter shook his head and instead of the furniture, looked at the people <em>in </em>the furniture.</p><p>He was expecting stoic faces and permanent sneers but instead got bright smiles and thumbs up.</p><p>Which, in all honestly, terrified him even more.</p><p>The tall boy also noticed the amount of. . . <em>intimacy </em>in the room. He wasn't homophobic, that would be hypocritical of him, but he did see one couple toward the front, a gel haired boy that he recognized from his English class and a slightly taller chestnut hair boy, laying down and taking up the whole couch by their cuddling.</p><p>It was. . . comforting, in a way, to know that they were accepted to be able to do that.</p><p>Someone clearing their throat brought back Hunter to his audition as he turned to face a table in front of the fireplace that seated three boys, the same dark skinned boy that brought him in, an asian looking boy and a dark haired boy; all of them were smiling.</p><p>"Hello. . . Hunter Clarrington?" the asian boy asked, reading from a sheet of paper but looked up at said boy to confirm.</p><p>He nodded. "Yes, that's me."</p><p>"Good. My name's Wes and this is David and Nick." Wes introduced, the dark skinned boy first then the black haired boy. "We're the council of the Warblers, I'm the head of it so if you do make it, I'll be the one who'll be getting all your information from, yes?"</p><p>Hunter just nodded.</p><p>"Good," Wes nods back and writes something down on the sheet.</p><p>David elbows the boy in the side and receives a 'ow what was that for!". "Wes, stop being all bossy-mc.grump pants when two seconds ago you were squealing like a little girl over Nick and Jeff's two month anniversary." he rolls his eyes and motions to him like <em>can you believe this guy</em>? Hunter almost snorts.</p><p>The head gave the boy next to him a look that obviously said, "<em>dude</em>, shut up the new kid is standing right there and he's not supposed to know any of us are cool. chill out".</p><p>But David ignored it completely, rolling his eyes again before folding his hands together and meeting the new boy with yet another smile.</p><p>"You'll have to excuse our beloved leader, he didn't get laid this morning, partially my fault, and now he's trying to be all commanding to turn me on." is what he says and the whole room looses it.</p><p>They're all laughing, giggling even, and even Hunter has to admit that it was pretty funny. Though Wes's tomato red face and scowl says his thoughts on it.</p><p>But before he can comment or even yell, Nick is grabbing a gavel and is banging it on the table twice, successfully bringing down the volume of noises to nothing.</p><p>"Now, you see, we're pretty cool here, so you can relax," Nick winks at him as if they share a secret, "But, you did come here to audition, so, what'll you be singing for us?"</p><p>Clearing his throat, Hunter conceals his amused face to a more professional one as he walks up to the table and hands the three his copies of sheet music. "Uh, Ed Sheeran's <em>Thinking Out Loud</em>? It was the only real ballad I knew. . ."</p><p>Wes snorted but just as quickly he got two set of elbows jammed into his sides that shut him up.</p><p>"Beautiful." Nick nods, moving the lyrics in front of him. "And you do know you'll be auditioning this without accompaniment?"</p><p>"Well aware."</p><p>"Alright then," David says, "Whenever you're ready."</p><p>And Hunter just. . . does it.</p><p>He thinks the best part of the whole thing was either the way Wes's face dropped its scowl for a wide eyed "are you from heaven?" look <em>or</em> the fact that they didn't boo him once or even throw food at him like he figured they would.</p><p>They were, like Mystery Blazer said, pretty fun and, not like he said, <em>posh dickheads</em>.</p><p>The song came to an end, his chest moving up and down and breathing hard, while his eyes are strategically shut so he doesn't have to see all their faces. It's silent in the room.</p><p>Then one pair of hands starts clapping. Then another joins in. Then two more join with them and soon, the entire room is in applause; and then, and only then, does does Hunter open his eyes to face his fellow peers.</p><p>And they're all basically <em>preening</em>. Some are giving him a standing ovation, one of the guys from the couch that were cuddling was standing too, much to the others chagrin. Hunters surprised but he can't help but smile and laugh at himself about how <em>wrong </em>he was about these people.</p><p>The clapping soon dies down, with the help of the three councilors and soon they're back where they started, Hunter standing in front of the three "judges" but now everyone else was on the edge of their seats.</p><p>"<em>Wow</em>." was all Wes said, his head was cradled in his hands and David was rubbing his back. "Just, <em>wow</em>."</p><p>"Is that a good wow or a bad wow." Hunter jokes, shuffling his feet on the carpeted floor in nervousness.</p><p>"A good wow, the hell?" he answers immediately and this time Hunter does snort at the clear confusion on his face. "You're really talented, man, how long have you been at Dalton?"</p><p>"A week or two? I was told it was okay to wait to audition so I can get settled," he explained but Wes shakes it off.</p><p>"I don't care about that, I care about the fact how <em>none </em>of you, who have perfectly good ears for gossiping and what not, did not hear him <em>sing </em>at all around this damned school." the asian boy shakes his head at the students all around the room who just rolled their eyes like they're used to it. They probably were.</p><p>"Well, your head was probably too far down David's ass to hear him either," someone says from behind Hunter and got snickers in replies, thankfully Wes didn't hear it.</p><p>"If you didn't already realize, you were really good." Nick speaks up, almost proudly, bringing them back to the subject at hand.</p><p>"Yes. Very good." David says in agreement. "And now for the voting process. Do you want to step outside while we do it or would you like to watch?"</p><p>What's he got to loose? "I'll watch, thanks."</p><p>All three chairmen nod and turn their attention to all the other students in the room who all looked anxious.</p><p>"Alright, Warblers, official ballot. Those of you who think Hunter Clarrington should join, say-"</p><p>"<em>Hold up</em>," a small blonde kid, the boy sees when he turns to see who spoke, interrupts."Shouldn't we wait for Sebastian, Nick? You know how he gets when we don't vote without him. . ." the blonde almost seemed worried for this Sebastian kid.</p><p>Nick sighs and looks at the big clock on the wall. "Jeffie, I know how he gets, but he's late <em>again</em> and this is his consequence. He's gotta learn that."</p><p><em>Jeffie </em>(the 'Jeff' part of 'Nick and Jeff's two month anniversary' from earlier, Hunter guessed) pouted and shrugged. "Okay, I guess."</p><p>Nick gave a sympathetic glance to his boyfriend before picking the gavel and banging it once more. "Okay, once again, all those in favor of Hunter joining the Warblers say-"</p><p>Just then the door to the room opened.</p><p>"Oh for god's <em>sake </em>can't I just get my voting done, what is it <em>now</em>?" Hunter cried exasperated, pointer finger and thumb  pinching his nose as he looks toward the door to see what the person could <em>possibly </em>want.</p><p>And he's met with the same uniform clad boy that he was taking with in the hall.</p><p>Wait.</p><p>"You're-" he starts.</p><p>"Late." Nick finishes, annoyed and arms crossed. "Third time this week, Sebastian. Your seats getting used to having my ass print on it and I'm starting to not mind as much."</p><p>Sebastian, apparently, rolls his eyes as the doors shut behind him. "Oh, shut it Duval, you're lucky I like your boyfriend enough to even make you my filler in."</p><p>"That's not the only reason you made me your filler in." now Nick was the one pouting.</p><p>And Hunter was still too shocked to even care about his audition at the moment.</p><p>"The world will never know," the blue eyed boy drawled before waking over to the table and then snapped his fingers. "Alright, up. Out of my chair, Duval, you had your big boy time, now let me sit."</p><p>Nick looked to David and Wes for help but they shrugged a "we can't really do anything" shrug. He sighed and reluctantly got out of the seat and headed over to Jeff, the blonde instantly moving to he could sit on the darker haired boys lap.</p><p>"Ah, yes, my seat." Sebastian said in content, all smiles as he got comfortable in his chair, his bag laying on the floor next to him.</p><p>
  <em>Sebastian? chair? councilmen? mystery blazer? </em>
  <b>
    <em>councilmen</em>
  </b>
  <em>?</em>
</p><p>"You're the guy from the hallway!" the green eyed male blurted out, pointing an accusing finger.</p><p>"Indeed I am. So glad we're going to have such a <em>brainiac </em>on our team." he says simply, smirking and folding his fingers together so they steeple under his chin.</p><p>"You two know each other?" Wes asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.</p><p>"We had a little <em>chat</em> in the hall before his audition." Sebastian winked.</p><p>Wes facepalmed himself before groaning. "What did we tell you about talking to the people who are auditioning?"</p><p>"I don't know, I wasn't listening."</p><p>"You're going to send me to an early grave, Smythe."</p><p>"And you're going to make me blind with that hairstyle, we all have to suffer." was snipped back causally.</p><p>"Okay. Hold on. You're-" Hunter interrupted their bickering, pointing  to Sebastian as if that were clear. Though the boy seemed to get it.</p><p>"A Warbler? Yes."</p><p>"And these. . ."</p><p>"Are all my friends I was talking about. The unconventional ones. Yes." he ignored the "aww"s about about being called their friend while also the occasional scoff about being unconventional.</p><p>"And I. . ."</p><p>"Insulted the entire group to a head chairman? Sure did, babe."</p><p>"And you didn't stop me because. . .?"</p><p>"I couldn't wait to see that <em>exact </em>look on your face." Sebastian smiled proudly of himself.</p><p>"You <em>bitch</em>." Hunter told him, but there was no real heat behind it.</p><p>"I've been called worse." he shrugged but then sat up properly. "Now I really have some studying to do so can we please get through this?"</p><p>"Yes, yes. Even if you didn't even hear his audition." Wes mumbles, and announces: "Okay, all in favor of Hunter joining the Warblers just say <em>I</em>."</p><p>As if practiced before, the entire party says <em>I </em>enthusiastically and just like that, Hunters a Warbler.</p><p>He didn't really know what he was so nervous about.</p><p>"Knew you could do it." Sebastian said and it felt more personal then all the other congratulations that was being shouted at the moment. He smiled at the boy who gave him one back.</p><p>"Oh, also," he turns and leans forward to talk directly to Wes. "Wes, I think our lovely new recruit has a problem with the audition process."</p><p>"He has a <em>what</em> with the <em>who</em>?"</p><p>And Hunters definitely going to get him back good in the future.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>so this turned into 3100+ words of absolute nonsense and unnecessary things um</p><p>i used "Hunter" too much and i'm about 500% i made him OOC, but i actually published something after a while so idk what cancels out what .</p><p>tell me what you think in the comments and thanks for reading !!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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